What happens when childhood friends reunite in their hometown. How does the sequel compare to the original Grown Ups film. Who are the new characters introduced in Grown Ups 2. What comedic situations do the characters find themselves in. How does the movie explore themes of family, friendship, and growing older.
The Return to Childhood Stomping Grounds: Setting the Scene
In “Grown Ups 2,” we find ourselves back in the charming small town where Lenny Feder (Adam Sandler) and his childhood friends have settled. Despite his Hollywood success, Lenny has chosen to return to his roots, demonstrating the pull of nostalgia and the importance of community. This decision sets the stage for a comedy that explores the complexities of adulthood while revisiting the carefree days of youth.
The film reunites the original cast, including David Spade as Marcus, Chris Rock and Maya Rudolph as Kurt and Deanne, and Kevin James and Maria Bello as Eric and Sally. Each character brings their unique brand of humor and personal challenges to the table, creating a rich tapestry of comedic situations and relatable family dynamics.
New Faces and Familiar Places
While the core group remains intact, “Grown Ups 2” introduces several new characters that shake up the status quo. Most notably, Marcus discovers he has a son he never knew about, adding an unexpected twist to his bachelor lifestyle. This revelation not only provides ample comedic opportunities but also allows for exploration of themes such as responsibility and personal growth.
Family Matters: Navigating Relationships and Parenthood
At its heart, “Grown Ups 2” is a film about family and the various forms it can take. Lenny and Roxanne grapple with the decision to have a fourth child, highlighting the challenges of balancing personal desires with family planning. Eric’s relationship with his mother becomes a source of tension, showcasing the delicate balance between honoring family ties and maintaining a healthy marriage.
The movie also delves into the world of teenage romance, as some of the characters’ offspring begin to explore dating. These storylines provide a perfect blend of humor and heart, allowing viewers to reflect on their own experiences of first love and parental concern.
The Comedic Clash of Generations
One of the most memorable aspects of “Grown Ups 2” is the confrontation between the main characters and a group of rowdy fraternity boys. This clash of generations serves as a catalyst for much of the film’s humor and action, culminating in an epic battle on Lenny’s lawn. The scene not only provides laughs but also allows the characters to prove that age is just a number when it comes to standing up for what’s right.
Star-Studded Cameos: A Who’s Who of Comedy
Director Dennis Dugan has assembled an impressive array of cameo appearances that add extra layers of humor and surprise to the film. Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal and veteran character actor Steve Buscemi take on minor roles, bringing their unique talents to the screen. Perhaps most unexpectedly, “Twilight” heartthrob Taylor Lautner appears as a cocky frat boy, showcasing his comedic chops alongside his well-known physique.
These cameos serve to enhance the movie’s already star-studded cast, creating a sense of unpredictability and ensuring that viewers are constantly engaged, wondering who might pop up next.
The Evolution of Friendship: Bonds That Stand the Test of Time
At its core, “Grown Ups 2” is a celebration of enduring friendship. The camaraderie between Lenny, Marcus, Kurt, and Eric remains the heart of the film, demonstrating how childhood bonds can evolve and strengthen over time. Their shared experiences, both past and present, provide a rich foundation for humor and heartfelt moments alike.
The film explores how these friendships adapt to the challenges of adulthood, from career pressures to family responsibilities. It’s through their support for one another that the characters navigate the ups and downs of life, reminding viewers of the importance of maintaining strong social connections as we age.
Lessons in Loyalty and Support
Throughout the movie, we see numerous examples of the friends rallying around each other in times of need. Whether it’s helping Marcus adjust to unexpected fatherhood or standing united against the frat boys, the group’s loyalty is unwavering. This aspect of the film resonates with audiences, reflecting the real-life value of having a strong support system.
Comedic Setpieces: Laughter at Every Turn
“Grown Ups 2” is structured as a series of comedic vignettes, each designed to maximize laughs and showcase the talents of its ensemble cast. From slapstick physical comedy to witty verbal exchanges, the film offers a diverse array of humor that caters to a wide audience.
One standout sequence involves the group’s visit to their old swimming hole, now claimed by the college students as their territory. This scene not only provides ample opportunities for physical comedy but also serves as a metaphor for the characters reclaiming their youth and standing up for their community.
The Art of the Running Gag
Director Dennis Dugan and the writing team skillfully weave several running gags throughout the film, creating a sense of continuity and building on jokes as the story progresses. These recurring elements, such as the ongoing handshake between two frat boys, add layers to the humor and reward attentive viewers.
Themes of Growth and Acceptance: Embracing Life’s Changes
“Grown Ups 2” doesn’t shy away from addressing the realities of aging and the challenges that come with it. The characters grapple with physical changes, shifting family dynamics, and the realization that they’re no longer the young, carefree individuals they once were. However, the film presents these themes with a light touch, finding humor in the universal experiences of getting older.
The movie encourages viewers to embrace the changes that come with age, suggesting that true growth involves accepting oneself and finding joy in the present moment. This message is particularly evident in the way the characters interact with their children, bridging the generation gap with humor and understanding.
The Value of Community
One of the strongest themes in “Grown Ups 2” is the importance of community. Lenny’s decision to return to his hometown despite his Hollywood success underscores the value of roots and belonging. The film portrays the small town setting as a place of warmth, support, and shared history, contrasting it with the more impersonal world of fame and fortune.
Visual Comedy and Physical Humor: Laughs Beyond Dialogue
While “Grown Ups 2” certainly doesn’t skimp on witty banter, it also excels in visual and physical comedy. The film makes excellent use of its talented cast’s ability to convey humor through facial expressions, body language, and perfectly timed physical gags.
From Kevin James’ impressive physical comedy to Adam Sandler’s masterful reactions, the movie provides a masterclass in non-verbal humor. These elements not only add to the overall comedic impact but also make the film more accessible to a wider audience, transcending language barriers.
Choreographing Chaos
The climactic battle scene on Lenny’s lawn is a prime example of the film’s skill in orchestrating large-scale physical comedy. The choreography of this sequence, involving dozens of actors in various states of comedic combat, demonstrates the careful planning and execution required to make such chaos appear effortless on screen.
The Soundtrack of Nostalgia: Music as a Time Machine
Music plays a significant role in “Grown Ups 2,” serving as both a nostalgic touchstone and a way to bridge generational gaps. The soundtrack features a mix of classic hits that resonate with the main characters’ youth and contemporary tracks that appeal to their children, creating a musical landscape that reflects the film’s themes of growth and change.
Certain songs are used to great comedic effect, underscoring humorous moments or providing ironic contrast to on-screen events. This careful curation of music enhances the viewing experience, adding another layer of enjoyment for audiences.
The Power of a Well-Placed Song
One particularly effective use of music in the film involves a montage set to a popular ’80s hit, evoking memories of the characters’ younger days while highlighting the humorous contrast with their current situations. This clever integration of soundtrack and visuals exemplifies the film’s ability to blend nostalgia with contemporary humor.
As “Grown Ups 2” continues to entertain audiences with its blend of humor, heart, and nostalgia, it solidifies its place in the pantheon of successful comedy sequels. By building on the strengths of its predecessor while introducing new elements and characters, the film offers a fresh take on familiar themes, ensuring its appeal to both fans of the original and newcomers alike.
Whether you’re drawn to the star-studded cast, the relatable family dynamics, or the promise of laugh-out-loud moments, “Grown Ups 2” delivers a comedic experience that reminds us all of the enduring power of friendship, the importance of community, and the ability to find humor in life’s many challenges. As the characters navigate the complexities of adulthood while reconnecting with their youthful spirits, viewers are invited to reflect on their own journeys, relationships, and the simple joys that make life worth celebrating.
Love At Last (Grown Ups 2/Greg Feder) – Frat Boys
Dylan POV
“I don’t believe it. We hit the moron jackpot. Everybody who needs a beating, conveniently together on one lawn.” Said some frat boy. Let’s call him #1.
“Excuse me. Why are you here? What’s the matter?” Mrs. Feder asked.
#2 answered mocking her beautiful accent, “I tell you what is the matter, these old townies trashed our frat house.” He then points to my dad and his friends.
“They didn’t do it. Me do it.” Braden said.
“Don’t try to cover for them Z-Dog!” #3 said.
Z-Dog? What the hell?
“We know they’re just trying to get back at us for making them do the naked plunge at our swimming hole.”#1 said.
“Your swimming hole? I’ve been swimming at the quarry since I was eight years old.” Mrs. McKenzie said.
“Apparently everybody in this crap town has been swimming there since they were eight years old. I guess nobody wants to leave this dump because their to busy sucking!” #1 said.
#1 and #2 start doing this hand shake but it got to long so they’ll continue later.
“Hey smart guy! Lenny Feder left this town, moved to Hollywood, made big bucks, probably more money than all you brainiacs put together ever will.
But guess what, he came back because this beautiful town is his home, and it always will be his home.” Bailey said to them.
What the fuck is going on? I don’t even know anymore!
“Well that was just a moving testament to this community bro, but we didn’t come here to hear any lame speeches. We came her to kick so old, smelly, ass!” Then all the frat boys started cheering.
“Fellas’, we may be old,”
“We may be smelly,”
“We may have a penis,” the moms point to my dad’s lady.
“But the only one getting their ass kicked around here is gonna be you spoiled, privileged, uppity, preppy d-bags.”
“You hear that? NOW LETS. GET. BUSY!”
Everyone ran towards them. This girl came to me and kicked me in the stomach, I grabbed her by the hair and threw her a punch to the face. This big guy came at me next.
I am a firm believer that he would hit a girl, before he could do anything, Braden came at him and punched him in the face repeatedly.
“Thanks.” I said and kissed his cheek and went at this girl who was at Greg.
“You’re a traitor Boomer!” Then she kicked him in his junk.
I went up to her and kicked her in her coochie, “His names name Boomer! Its Greg!”
I grabbed his face and pulled him up, “Are you okay?”
“Oh god. I love you. So much. If I make it out alive will you go out with me?” He asked.
“Hell yeah.”
I grabbed his face and pressed my lips to his. We kiss each other hungrily.
“By the way, that was really sexy when you were fighting her.” He said breaking the kiss and smiling at me.
“Thanks.”
Adam Sandler, Insisting Again That He’s A Really Great Guy
Also living there are Marcus (David Spade), a single man with odd taste in women, and two couples: Kurt and Deanne (Chris Rock and Maya Rudolph) and Eric and Sally (Kevin James and Maria Bello), who have multiple children — although not the exact same lineups they had previously.
There are some family-dramedy issues. Roxanne wants to have a fourth child, but Lenny is reluctant. Eric is spending too much time with his mother (Georgia Engel, still riffing on her Mary Tyler Moore Show role as Ted Baxter’s naive girlfriend).
Marcus, meanwhile, meets the son he didn’t know he’d fathered, who turns out to be large and threatening. And two teenage offspring ponder their first dates.
To call these plot points would be to overstate their importance. Even more than the first one, Grown Ups 2 is a series of riffs, skits and sight gags, barely integrated into anything resembling continuity. Director Dennis Dugan, a longtime Sandler enabler, lines up the episodes competently but without anything more than a rudimentary sense of structure.
Adding to the grab-bag feel are a large number of cameos: Shaquille O’Neal and Steve Buscemi take minor roles, and Twilight werewolf Taylor Lautner flexes and flares as a shirtless frat boy who leads his fellow meatheads in clashes with the older guys.
The reunited J. Geils Band actually performs during the ’80s-themed party that serves, just barely, as a finale. And there are so many appearances by former Saturday Night Live cast members that the movie begins to look like a benefit for the SNL Pension Fund.
Sandler, one of three credited screenwriters, gives Lenny a few parenting moments that in real life would require the intervention of Child Protective Services. But he is, of course, really a great dad. Deep down. Really, truly. Grown Ups 2 doesn’t push that button as often as its precursor did, but this movie, like all of Sandler’s, insists on its star’s likability.
It might be time for the actor to play a character who more honestly embodies the hostility his performances exude. But apparently Sandler’s not grown up enough for that yet.
Grown Ups 2 Quotes | Quotesoup
Lenny Feder: Doctor, wouldn’t it be nice if there was a cure for anger?
Dr. Larry: There is.
It’s called Jack Daniels.
Lenny Feder: Another one of your jokes, huh?
Dr. Larry: I wish.
Movie: Grown Ups 2
[first lines][a deer walks into the bedroom] Lenny Feder: Sweetheart.
Roxanne Chase-Feder: Mmm?
Lenny Feder: Go over to the window right now and open it as wide as you can.
Roxanne Chase-Feder: Please let me sleep.
Lenny Feder: I think your mother’s here from Mexico, and she needs to leave. Open the window now.
Movie: Grown Ups 2
Kurt McKenzie: I can’t believe nobody’s even scared of a black guy anymore! Damn you, Obama!
Movie: Grown Ups 2
Frat Boy Andy: This is Kappa Eta Sigma property. So you might want to quit perving on our ladies and get back to your trailer homes.
Lenny Feder: Okay, easy there, Abercrombile. I think it’s… I think we’ve been around here longer than you.
Been swimming here since we were eight years old, so you just calm down a little bit.
Frat Boy Andy: I’m sure it was the bomb! Cranking to your Al Jolsson tunes on your transistor radio. But it’s the 21st century now. And Thicky Thick and the Flabber Bunch should never take their shirts off. Never.
Lenny Feder: That hurts.
Eric Lamonsoff: Okay, I guess I’m Thicky Thick.
Lenny Feder: Yeah, well, I don’t like being in the Flabby Bunch, either.
Movie: Grown Ups 2
Eric Lamonsoff: You’re a genius? My boy’s a genius. [burpsnarts]
Eric Lamonsoff: Your dad’s also a genius.
Movie: Grown Ups 2
Eric Lamonsoff: Okay, Bean, what’s 7 plus 9?
Bean Lamonsoff: 79.
Eric Lamonsoff: Is he a little boy or a computer? ‘Cause I can’t figure it out.
Sally Lamonsoff: Don’t destroy his confidence.
Movie: Grown Ups 2
Andre Mckenzie: What the hell just happened?
Greg Feder: I saw my dad’s dick.
Movie: Grown Ups 2
Bean Lamonsoff: Confidence. K-O-B-R-Q-V-Y. Confidence.
Eric Lamonsoff: Well, we’re not gonna have to pay for college. That’s for sure.
Movie: Grown Ups 2
Bean Lamonsoff: The ’80s? That was 70 years ago.
Movie: Grown Ups 2
Becky Feder: How long ago was the ’80s?
Keithie Feder: That was way back in the 1900s. We learned about it in school. It was wack. The phones had long, curly things coming out of the end. You had to watch commercials.
Becky Feder: No way.
Movie: Grown Ups 2
Eric Lamonsoff: Hold up. Hang on. I got a burpsnart coming up. [burps, sneezes and farts]
Lenny Feder: You got to teach me how you do that.
Eric Lamonsoff: A burpsnart? It’s simple. You just start with a burp, then you sniff with a sneeze, you get the going, and that triggers a fart, always.
Movie: Grown Ups 2
[last lines] Lenny Feder: I did it! I burpsnarted! Yes!
Roxanne Chase-Feder: Lenny, grow up!
Lenny Feder: I did it for the baby!
Movie: Grown Ups 2
Eric Lamonsoff: Whoa. Okay, you sure you want to go with those boots, honey? I know you bedazzled them yourself. I’m just wondering if they’ll attract too much attention, you know, from outer space.
Donna Lamonsoff: It’s the last day of school, and Mom said I’m free to express myself.
Eric Lamonsoff: Oh, building the confidence right there with R2-D2.
Movie: Grown Ups 2
Beefcake Kitty: Kids don’t belong in here. That leash better not trip me up.
Deanne McKenzie: Leash isn’t gonna trip you up. It’s your big-ass, hairy man feet that are gonna trip you up.
Movie: Grown Ups 2
Bumpty: Yo, he’s got to put those Easter eggs back in the basket.
Dang!
Movie: Grown Ups 2
Officer Dante: I’m going to arrest her for disturbing the peace… pause… in my pants
Movie: Grown Ups 2
Lenny Feder: Lenny Feder- I used to get 10 cases of beer for my parties. Now I get 10 cases of juice boxes.
Movie: Grown Ups 2
[from trailer] Male Cheerleader: Your car is filthy!
Movie: Grown Ups 2
25 Things I Saw While Watching “Grown Ups 2” That I Will Never Be Able to Unsee
There is not a single redeeming moment during Grown Ups 2. There is not a single laugh to be had. There is only the pain of knowing that each scene will unfortunately be followed by another scene, and each subsequent scene will force you to confront the decisions you made in your life that led you to this place, to a theater with far too many people in it, watching a poorly improvised pastiche of sketches — many of them abandoned due to indifference — featuring actors who simply do not care.
Adam Sandler is clearly working under the belief that, if he puts his name on the poster and surrounds himself with enough familiar faces, people will flock to theaters without any concern whatsoever for what is actually on the screen.
There is nothing salvageable in Grown Ups 2. It is a bowl of dicks crammed into a bag of assholes trapped inside of a black hole of stupidity. It is the only movie I have ever seen that made me wish I were watching Movie 43 instead.
If you choose, however, to see Grown Ups 2, these are the images that you will be forced to endure.
1. In the opening scene, a frightened elk inside of Adam Sandler’s bedroom urinates about six gallons of piss all over Sandler’s face.
2. In the extended sequence, the elk interrupts Adam Sandler’s son in the shower masturbating, and urinates all over him, as well.
3. David Spade’s character gets inside of a Monster Truck-sized
tire, and during a six or seven minute scene during which I aged three years, the tire rolls down a hill, destroying everything in its path until it bounces off of Shaquille O’Neal and falls quietly on its side, at which point, Spade projectile vomits 15 feet across the road and onto a nearby police officer.
4. The toddler son of Maya Rudolph and Chris Rock craps his diaper and affords his mother an excited poop dance, as though he has just scored a touchdown in the Super Bowl.
5. After the blitzed-out bus driver played by Nick Swardson passes out and Adam Sandler takes over bus driving duties, the school children stick Cheetos in Swardson’s nostrils. He pulls them out and eats them.
6. During an extended product placement to K-Mart, Nick Swardson strips to his boxers, takes a nap in one of their demo beds, and when he wakes up, he walks over and takes a dump in a demo toilet. During this entire time, Swardson’s drug-fueled split personalities yell at each other.
7. Kevin James does a combination sneeze/burp/fart four times during the movie. David Spade does it once, and Adam Sandler does it once right before he has sex with his wife, Salma Hayek. This is what passes for a running gag.
8. Shaquille O’Neal dances. Shamefully. More than once. The sneeze/burp/fart combinations are less unpleasant.
9. There’s a running gag involving Tim Meadows’ family, all of whom have Ronald McDonald baldness, and all of whom attempt to introduce a “WHUUUUUUUT” catch phrase. It is pathetically unsuccessful. The Meadows’ spawn is also some kind of rapping Urkel.
10. During a gym class, Dan Patrick — in short shorts — climbs a rope in such a way that the audience is given a close-up look at his testicle brain. It’s one of several times during the movie we are given close-ups of men in short shorts and the outline of their testicles.
11. The husbands all anxiously attend a little girls’ ballet recital so as to gawk at the cleavage of the ballet instructor, in front of their wives, who are oh-so-appropriately understanding and even encouraging.
12. Jon Lovitz plays a perverted janitor, who arrives at a yoga class early to lead the women in simulated sex acts, while he gazes upon them lasciviously. Likewise, he gets off on the ballet instructor. The wives in the yoga class, meanwhile, slobber all over the yoga instructor (Oliver Hudson), and at one point, Maya Rudolph asks if she can “stick my tongue all the way down your throat.
”
13. There’s a running joke about a musclebound woman who looks like Hulk Hogan. Mya Rudolph suggests that her G-string is actually a jock strap, and makes several insinuations that she has a penis. Maya Rudolph is married to fucking Paul Thomas Anderson in real life. She was in Away We Go. How is it that she allowed herself to make bad jokes of a homophobic nature?
14. That same woman is David Spade’s girlfriend. At one point, he makes out with her bicep. There is extended tongue action. WITH HER BICEP.
15. The four leads are forced to cliff dive naked. Adam Sandler belly flops on his testicles.
A naked Kevin James, leaping from the cliff, lands testicle first on David Spade’s head. Spade makes some kind of joke about being trapped briefly inside of his asshole, which to be honest, is a better place to be that inside a theater screening Grown Ups 2.
16. A blonde Milo Ventimiglia and Taylor Lautner play the villainous frat boys.
They engage in extended handshakes, make racial and homophobic jokes, and deliver maybe the worst dialogue ever written for a major studio film, including at one point calling the townspeople “fart heads.” FART HEADS.
17. There is a scene that involves Colin Quinn attempting to fix a soft-serve ice cream dispenser, in which it appears the chocolate ice cream squirts out from his ass. This scene is at least three minutes too long.
18. Nick Swardson reveals a urine stain on a pair of briefs he is wearing. He claims that it is not his.
19. Nick Swardson, in a moment in which he reveals that he’s gay, attempts to make out with Oliver Hudson (who I didn’t realize was Kate’s brother) and, with his eyes closed, ends up in a prolonged make-out sesh with a Great Dane with a mohawk.
20. Steve Buscemi, who has FIVE Emmy nominations, is reduced to dressing up as Flavor Flave at an ’80s party and delivering a cringeworthy, “Yeeeeaaaah Boooy.” I wanted to cry.
21.
In an effort to show her husband, Kevin James, that she’s OK with him gawking at women, Maria Bello takes him to a car wash run by high school girls in bikinis. However, in a last minute switch, a group of men — basically the entire existing and past male cast members of “SNL” and the Lonely Island still under the age of 35 — f*ck the car to Mario Bello’s delight. Warrant’s “Cherry Pie” plays during the sequence. Taran Killam makes out with the windshield.
22. Peter Dante — one of the Sandler regulars — gives Shaquille O’Neal a car wash and insists upon getting the sponge “right up in there.”
23. Richie Minervini, another Sandler regular whose character name is “Principal Tardio,” is overweight, wears belly-
exposing shirts, and at one point, pulls a Fruit Loop out of his navel and eats it.
24. During a fight sequence at the end of a movie, one of the frat guys is basically suffocated by a guy’s balls.
25. The elk from the beginning of the movie arrives again at the end and essentially gnaws at Taylor Lautner’s testicles through his jeans.
That is the film’s climactic moment.
(Image via FilmDrunk)
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Taylor Lautner, a hunky frat boy in ‘Grown Ups 2’
(The Philippine Star) – July 8, 2013 – 9:06am
MANILA, Philippines – He has always watched out for Bella as the super nice guy Jacob in the “Twilight†series.
Well those days are over.
Now, heartthrob Taylor Lautner stars as the lead frat boy in the pack that causes trouble for Adam Sandler and his buddies in Columbia Pictures’ new comedy “Grown Ups 2.â€
“My character and his friends aren’t the nicest guys, but that’s part of the fun of the movie,†Lautner says.
“I can’t think of a better way to spend the summer than hanging out with Adam Sandler and his crew. I grew up watching his movies, I’m a big fan of his.â€
In one of the funniest scenes from the film, Lautner’s frat boy Andy shows Lenny (Sandler) and his childhood chums who’s boss when they return to their old swimming hole. Lenny calls Andy and his visor-sporting, khaki shorts-wearing bros out for looking rather “Abercrombie.” But the younger set gets the next laugh at the expense of those returning “Grown Ups” played by Kevin James, Chris Rock, and David Spade as they are forced by the frat pack to cliff dive in the buff.
The “Twilight” hunk admitted that he loved hanging out with Adam Sandler’s comedy superteam for the sequel, and unsurprisingly, it was a more laughter-filled set than he’s used to.
“I loved it. I was very intimidated, but it’s why I wanted to do it,†Lautner shares. “These guys and Salma [Hayek], they’re the best at what they do and it was a huge learning experience for me.
It’s an absolute blast. The set is unlike anything else I’ve ever been on. We don’t laugh this much on the `Twilight’ sets.â€
Sandler also pipes up on the experience: “We all loved [Lautner] and, you know, just like anybody, we were a little intimidated to meet old Taylor, too, ‘cause the sound he brings with him. Wherever he shows up there’s a giant crowd of high-pitched screaming and happiness.â€
“We thought they were protesters for the first two days,†deadpans co-star David Spade.
“I became friends with that sweet kid,†Adam admits. However, he follows up with a joke, “None of us liked when his shirt came off…we were like, ‘Put it on, our wives are coming.’â€
“The girls go bananas for him and usually that leads to other guys getting angry or whatever, but when you hang out with the kid he’s the nicest, sweetest kid and he’s an unbelievable athlete,†continues Sandler. “That kid can literally do everything. He’s like a crazy squirrel climbing up walls.
He doesn’t play basketball. It’s probably like his 10th sport, but we play it at my house sometimes. He comes over, but he finds a way to annoy the hell out of everybody and make shots. He’s a pain.â€
Opening across the Philippines on July 24, “Grown Ups 2†is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.
Grown Ups 2 Movie Review
By: Lynn Barker
Can you keep having wild fun with your buddies when you leave childhood behind? The grown guys of Grown Ups 2 hope so and they take their teen kids along for the ride.
Revisiting the Families
It’s the last day of school before summer and the childhood buddies from the original Grown Ups movie all now live in the suburban town where they grew up but life is still not perfect in the ‘burbs. Apparently early-retired from Hollywood, Lenny (Adam Sandler) and his hot wife Roxanne (Salma Hayek) and their kids (including Cameron Boyce from TV’s “Jessie”) find a huge deer in their house and freak.
Adam Sandler hugs son Cameron Boyce
Eric (Kevin James) tries not to discourage his obviously super stooopid young son and flatters his daughter Donna’s ugly, self-designed light-up “go-go” boots while Kurt (Chris Rock) deals with his wife forgetting their anniversary and his toddler son’s poo-filled diaper and Marcus (David Spade) meets Braden (Hunger Games’ Alexander Ludwig) the son he never knew he had; a huge, angry kid who scares him.
Crushes, Bullies and Fratboys
Lenny’s teen son Greg is crushin’ on hot Nancy (Halston Sage) but is afraid to ask her out, a nerd asks Charlotte (China Anne McClain) out and Keithie (Cameron Boyce) is bullied by a huge guy on the school bus. The adults deal with their own problems: Eric is spending more time with his nurturing mom than his wife, Roxanne wants another baby and the guys are longing for their more exciting high school days while reuniting with some bad boys from their childhood who are now the town cops (Shaquille O’Neal plays one of them).
Halston as Nancy in Grown Ups 2
Fratboys take over the adult guys’ favorite swimming hole in a big stone quarry and their leader (Twilight’s Taylor Lautner) challenges them to jump off a high cliff into the water naked. Of course, they do. Angry that his newly-discovered dad lied to him to keep from spending time with him, Braden trashes the frat house making the guys think Lenny and his pals, including Braden’s dad, did it!
Taylor Lautner and fratfriends tease a townie kid
The ‘80’s Party
In addition to a huge fight between the party-crashing fratboys and everybody else, Lenny’s ‘80’s party includes him finally getting even with the bully who haunted his childhood when the guy decides to bond with him and they “fake” a fight which Lenny fake-wins. The same deer from the first scene attacks Taylor Lautner with disastrous results and Charlotte gets to show off her singing talent while Nancy finally kisses a grateful Greg, Keithie overcomes his bully and Marcus and son buddy up.
Taylor Lautner challenges the adult guys
Wrapping Up
Way more goes on in the Grown Ups 2 story than I had space to mention but there are more “ewwwww”, gross pottie humor moments in the film than truly funny ones. Sure, you’ll have some laughs and you might escape summer boredom while you identify with some of the young teens enjoying a first beer, first date/kiss and suffering a first bully etc.
Adam and family get a kitchen surpriseCourtesy of Tracy Bennett
You might also have fun seeing Twilight hottie Taylor Lautner play a silly, macho fratboy jock who gets to throw some pretty awesome martial arts moves in the movie and show that he can do comedy or you might like hearing like two seconds of China McClain from “A.N.T. Farm” singing.
China Anne McClain as CharlotteCourtesy of Tracy Bennett
The story is all over the place as we cut to each family’s personal problems/experiences and it doesn’t all come together really until the big ‘80’s party at the end.
Let’s get real: for a popcorn-munching, mindless, silly escape time at the Cineplex, you will probably enjoy the film but we’ve gotta go 2 out of 5 stars.
Grown Ups 2 Movie Rating:
Grown Ups 2 is in theaters now!
A poster
Taylor Lautner, A Hunky Frat Boy in “GROWN UPS 2”
He has always watched out
for Bella as the super nice guy Jacob in the “Twilight” series.
Well
those days are over.
Now,
heartthrob Taylor Lautner stars as the lead frat boy in the pack that
causes trouble for Adam Sandler and his buddies in Columbia Pictures’
new comedy “Grown Ups 2.”
“My
character and his friends aren’t the nicest guys, but that’s part
of the fun of the movie,” Lautner says. “I can’t think of a
better way to spend the summer than hanging out with Adam Sandler and
his crew.
I grew up watching his movies, I’m a big fan of his.”
In
one of the funniest scenes from the film, Lautner’s frat boy Andy
shows Lenny (Sandler) and his childhood chums who’s boss when they
return to their old swimming hole. Lenny calls Andy and his
visor-sporting, khaki shorts-wearing bros out for looking rather
“Abercrombie.” But the younger set gets the next laugh at
the expense of those returning “Grown Ups” played by Kevin
James, Chris Rock, and David Spade as they are forced by the frat
pack to cliff dive in the buff.
The
“Twilight” hunk admitted that he loved hanging out with
Adam Sandler’s comedy superteam for the sequel, and unsurprisingly,
it was a more laughter-filled set than he’s used to.
“I
loved it. I was very intimidated, but it’s why I wanted to do it,”
Lautner shares. “These guys and Salma [Hayek], they’re the best
at what they do and it was a huge learning experience for me. It’s
an absolute blast. The set is unlike anything else I’ve ever been
on.
We don’t laugh this much on the `Twilight’ sets.”
Sandler
also pipes up on the experience: “We all loved [Lautner] and, you
know, just like anybody, we were a little intimidated to meet old
Taylor, too, ‘cause the sound he brings with him. Wherever he shows
up there’s a giant crowd of high-pitched screaming and happiness.”
“We
thought they were protesters for the first two days,” deadpans
co-star David Spade.
“I
became friends with that sweet kid,” Adam admits. However, he
follows up with a joke, “None of us liked when his shirt came
off…we were like, ‘Put it on, our wives are coming.’”
“The
girls go bananas for him and usually that leads to other guys
getting angry or whatever, but when you hang out with the kid he’s
the nicest, sweetest kid and he’s an unbelievable athlete,”
continues Sandler. “That kid can literally do everything. He’s
like a crazy squirrel climbing up walls. He doesn’t play
basketball. It’s probably like his 10th sport, but we play it at
my house sometimes.
He comes over, but he finds a way to annoy the
hell out of everybody and make shots. He’s a pain.”
Opening
across the Philippines on July 24, “Grown Ups 2” is distributed
by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing
International. Visit www.columbiapictures.com.ph to see the latest
trailers, get free downloads and play free movie games.
90,000 7 films and TV series about children who think better than adults – What to see
Serious situation – a child prodigy in the family. With “ordinary” children, it is not always possible to understand whether you are doing everything right and whether any harmful complexes have sprouted in the child’s mind through your fault. And if a child is smarter than his parents, smarter than everyone around him and for the life of him does not fit into society, it’s an ambush.
Henry’s book
The Book of Henry, 2017
Boy Henry is only eleven years old, but he is a real genius.
And this applies not only to excellent results in school. Since he and his little brother grow up without a father, and their mother is a rather infantile creature, he had to take on the role of head of the family. He earns money and solves everyday issues. One day he would be a terrific adult, but one day he is given a fatal diagnosis. And the boy has one not childishly difficult unfinished business that his mother will have to do.
Gifted
Gifted, 2017
The birth of a prodigy is always a difficult situation.She poses an important question for parents: to fully reveal the child’s potential, which will take him out of the circle of communication with peers, or allow him to spend a normal childhood. After the death of his sister, Frank is left with a little gifted niece for upbringing. Even before her 7th birthday, they playfully go through the school curriculum, but he tries very hard to hide the girl’s abilities in mathematics from others.
October sky
October Sky, 1999
1957Teen Homer Hickam is good at fumbling in technology. Inspired by the launch of the first satellite in the USSR, he plans to build his own small rocket and launch it into space. But it remains to be seen which is more difficult to overcome: gravity or the resistance of a father who believes that his son should become a miner and not play with toys.
Sheldon’s childhood
Young Sheldon, 2017
Physicist Sheldon Cooper was the smartest he knew from childhood.This caused a lot of trouble for his family, his neighbors, and himself too. The spin-off of the series “The Big Bang Theory” tells about those harsh days when the genius was only 9 years old and he had to endure the company of “normal” people.
Mr. Spivet’s Incredible Journey
The Young and Prodigious T.
S. Spivet, 2013
The Institute in Washington awards a prestigious scientific award to Mr. Spivet, whose drawings of a perpetual motion machine came by mail from a remote province.The inventor is invited to attend the award ceremony to give a speech. True, no one knows that the author of the mechanism is the ten-year-old son of a farmer. Having received the letter, the boy packs his things in a suitcase, and, having loaded it onto a trolley, sets off on a long journey across America.
Ugly swans
2006
The writer Viktor Banev comes to the city, closed for a mysterious reason, for quarantine.He is a member of the UN commission and has the opportunity to get inside, but his goal is not to clarify the situation for the public, but to get into a closed boarding school for gifted children, where his daughter is being brought up, and take her away from there.
Teacher
The Kindergarten Teacher, 2018
Lisa, a mother of two, works as a kindergarten teacher and has a passion for poetry. One day a woman notices a little boy’s poetic talent and dreams of developing it to make a genius poet.But the child’s father wants him to grow up like everyone else, and when he grows up, he gets a good job, so he does not allow Liza to develop pedagogical activities. So one day she decides to take everything into her own hands and kidnap the baby.
Found a mistake? Select the fragment and press Ctrl + Enter.
90,000 20 outstanding vampire films for those who care about Twilight
In the Russian box office there is a Jim Jarmusch film “Only Lovers Left Alive”, in which Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, and Mia Wasikowska play vampires.Gazeta.Ru recalls 20 other films about bloodsuckers, which should be seen by those who are interested in philosophical and artistic searches.
As soon as a director makes a movie about vampires these days, ordinary people and not only start a song: “Well, he decided to profit from the popularity of” Twilight “.” Nonsense, when Jim Jarmusch films Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as immortal bloodsuckers and guardians of the spirit of modernist culture, the teenage saga is the last thing that makes sense to remember.The film “Only Lovers Will Survive” is addressed to other people and is embedded in a different vampire context, it is not for nothing that its premiere took place in the competition of the Cannes Film Festival.
It is not even necessary to remember such classics as “Nosferatu.Symphony of Horror “by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau or” Vampire “by Karl Theodor Dreyer.
Vampires bit people in auteur films of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Perhaps in the 2000s their art-house life quieted down a little, but it certainly did not die: it is enough to remember that in 2012 Neil Jordan’s Byzantium was released with Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton as Victorian succubi, and in 2013 – The Kiss damned ”, directed by Xan Cassavetes, daughter of John Cassavetes. Jordan’s film turned out to be completely shameful, the debut picture of Cassavetes Jr. was tactfully not noticed, but the tradition of auteur cinema with vampires is unlikely to be forgotten in the near future.
To refresh this tradition in memory, Gazeta.Ru selected 20 outstanding films about those who drink blood and arranged them in chronological order.
1. Valerie and the week of miracles (Valerie a týden divů)
1970, directed by Jaromil Yires
Sexual awakening, vampires, surrealism and symbolism in the picture of the classic of the Czechoslovak “new wave”.
The thirteen-year-old heroine (thirteen-year-old Yaroslava Shallerova) lives in a dreaming reality, where the world of adults beckons with pleasures and bliss, but turns into a perverse side when growing up makes itself felt.The transitional age is presented here as a surreal cycle in which the vampire takes the guise of figures of power – a policeman, a priest, a father – and under the mask of each a man is found who is attracted by maiden blood. Allegories and symbols in this picture do not breathe. The perfect movie to educate those who are frightened to learn that the notorious “Twilight” is a saga about how a girl wants and fears her first sex.
2. Let’s Scare Jessica to Death
1971, directed by John Hancock
Slow movie, more like an independent psychological thriller than a horror movie.After spending six months in a psychiatric hospital, Jessica (Zora Lampert) arrives with her husband (Barton Hayman) in a newly acquired house, where, while it was empty, a red-haired girl with no fixed place of residence and occupation (Marykler Costello) settled.
The new owners leave the stranger to live indefinitely, then Jessica begins to hear voices and notices that the local men are bandaged as one: who has a neck covered, who has a wrist. John Hancock, a theater director and friend of Tennessee Williams, used the plot of the mystical thriller as a shell for a sad story about a young woman: the heroine is not sure of her own sanity either, and her husband, instead of support, readily allows herself to be seduced by the first witch she comes across.
3. Cuadecuc, Vampire
1971, directed by Per Portabella
Poetic-documentary film about the vampire aesthetics of fascism. Catalan Per Portabella worked on a film about the shooting of Jesús Franco’s “Count Dracula” with Christopher Lee in the title role, but in the end his result turned out to be more interesting from an artistic and historical point of view. From shots of color horror, footage filmed on the set of materials and a strange soundtrack, Portabella puts together an amazing avant-garde cinema.
The director ironically precedes the scene of Dracula’s uprising from the coffin with a scene in which Christopher Lee climbs into this coffin. Designed to be intimidating, the imagery is interspersed with poetic and comic filming details. The sharply contrasting black-and-white image refers to Murnau’s Nosferat and Dreyer’s Vampire, and the editing tells the story of how the dictatorship (in the character of Christopher Lee it is easy to see General Franco) creates its ominous image practically out of emptiness.
4. Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary
1975, directed by Juan Lopez Moctezuma
A movie in which they drink blood without any mystical background.Mexican artist Mary (Christina Ferrare) prepares for the exhibition, succumbs to the flirtation of the gallery owner (Elena Rojo), enters into an uncertain relationship with an American tourist (David Young) and generally leads an ordinary life, but from time to time she pulls a knitting needle out of her hair, pierces another throat and drinks blood from the victim.
A much more mysterious man in black (John Carradine) is also sinning in the same way. In the finale, it turns out that neither the man in black, let alone Mary, are immortal creatures of darkness, but suffer from a cancer-like ailment: instead of malignant cells, blood vessels grow in their bodies.Juan López Moctezuma, co-producer of Alejandro Jodorowski’s The Mole and Fando and the Fox, made one of the first films in which vampirism is presented not as something devilish, but as a medical, genetic disorder.
5. Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural
1975, directed by Richard Blackburn
An uneven film that highlights several important subgenre themes. During Prohibition, 13-year-old (popular age) Laila Lee (Cheryl Smith) travels to Astaroth to say goodbye to her dying father.On the way from the attack of wild vampires, the girl is saved by a mysterious stranger named Lemora (Leslie Gleeb), who turns out to be a vampire herself and, moreover, the queen of her own kind in Astaroth, torn apart by the vampire war.
However, this movie is not about military action, but about seduction: Lemora seduces Laila, Laila seduces the priest – here are elements of the lesbian vampire cinema genre that flourished in the 1970s, and hints of the sexual connotation in the church that confused Catholics.
6. Martin
1976, directed by George Romero
More like a movie about the subtleties of the boundaries between the real, the fantastic and the imaginary than horror.The orphaned Martin (John Emplas) moves to a dying town to live with his great-uncle (Lincoln Maazel), having managed to open his fellow traveler’s wrist with a knife on the way and drink her blood. Grandfather is clearly aware of Martin’s inclinations and is trying to protect his granddaughter Christina (Christine Forrest) from the young man in grandfather’s ways: garlic, crucifixions, the promise of an aspen stake in the chest in case of bad behavior. But the grand-nephew does not believe in the old magic, but claims that he is 84 years old, and sees waking dreams in which the classic vampire is pursued by a crowd with torches.
The nature of the hero’s declared need for blood remains undisclosed, but its connection with sexual desire and Martin’s manic behavior and self-justifications are obvious. Director George Romero himself called “Martin” his favorite of his films.
7. Rabid
1977, directed by David Cronenberg
The fourth full meter by David Cronenberg. A tissue transplant after an accident causes something like a mutation in Rose (Marilyn Chambers): the heroine discovers that a hole has formed under her armpit, where a phallic sting is hiding.In moments of sexual passion, Rose cannot control herself, and the new organ becomes an instrument for consuming blood and infecting victims. Soon, Montreal is engulfed in an epidemic that turns its inhabitants into bloodthirsty zombies. In this film there is much of what Cronenberg is loved for: the connection between catastrophic and sexual experiences, medical experiments with human flesh, collective psychosis, vivid frightening images.
8. Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
1979, directed by Werner Herzog
A great remake of a great movie, directed by a man who has never watched a horror movie.Werner Herzog called the painting by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau “Nosferatu. Symphony of Horrors “the best in the history of German cinema, and when the rights to” Dracula “by Bram Stoker went into the public domain, he undertook to express his admiration in the form of his own film. Filmed in color, but inheriting the visual power of the original source, reconstructing individual shots in detail, but bright in independent finds, as when a house is flooded with thousands of rats similar to a new owner. Count Dracula in makeup that almost imitates Max Shrek’s was played by Klaus Kinski.Jonathan Harker’s estate agent is Bruno Gantz. His beautiful wife Lucy is Isabelle Adjani. Roland Ax, a French artist and writer with a unique laugh, appears as Jonathan’s boss. The story of Dracula Herzog and Kinski are turned into a real tragedy: he is as terrible as Murnau’s, but he is who he is and he cannot do anything about it.
This is a melancholic character doomed to suffering.
9. Thirst
1979, directed by Rod Hardy
The Australian revision of a vampire movie that surprises and scares.Members of an organization kidnap Kate (Chantal Conturi) and inform her that she is a descendant of Elizabeth Bathory, a Hungarian countess who became famous at the border of the 16th and 17th centuries for the bloody murders of young virgins. The brotherhood itself maintains something like a farm for obtaining human blood, which the members of the organization drink, and the owner of a suitable heredity is invited to join the ranks of bloodsuckers. Refusal entails the use of hallucinogenic drugs and the involvement of the heroine’s lover. Rod Hardy skillfully instills elements of science fiction and thriller into old myths to refresh the stagnant blood of the genre.
10. The Hunger
1983, directed by Tony Scott
A visionary film about immortal love and aging, which opens the Bauhaus concert in New York, where the heroes find a young couple to invite to dinner.
The vampire lovers Miriam and John are played by Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie: she has a piano, he has a cello, they give music lessons, are not afraid of daylight and use ancient Egyptian pendants to open the throats of victims.Miriam promises John eternal life, love and youth, but one day he begins to age before our eyes. By this time, a third character appears in their lives – a doctor investigating aging and sleep, played by Susan Sarandon. In Tony Scott’s mesmerizing film with flowers, vampirism is a metaphor for the promise of undying love. Sometimes that promise comes true, but in a chilling way.
11. Fright Night
1985, directed by Tom Holland
A film about vampires, the protagonist of which is well acquainted with the content of films about vampires.Raised on horror movies, an American teenager Charlie (William Rigsdale) discovers that his new neighbor (Chris Sarandon) is a bloodsucker who regularly kills local beauties. In an attempt to stop the villain, the young man turns to Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowell), the host of the television show “Fear Night” and a former star of vampire films, for help. Tom Holland’s eponymous show is an example of a comedy genre: when vampires became a part of pop culture, what could surprise an old-fashioned ghoul who sleeps in a coffin and lives in a house with stained-glass windows? In 2011, a disgraceful remake was released with Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell and David Tennant in the lead roles.
12. Near Dark
1987, directed by Catherine Bigelow
A vampire western set against the backdrop of the American hinterland of the 1980s. In the directorial debut of Katherine Bigelow, the vampires are a gang of crazy thugs, and the main character is the good guy Caleb (Adrian Pasdar), who met the strangely sexy and forever young seductress May (Jenny Wright). “Almost complete darkness” can be seen as a story about the desire of a boy from a good family to escape from the mundane in the alluring but dangerous world of leather jackets and cocky behavior.But this is not the main thing here, but the main thing is the mixing of genres, the outstanding work of the cameraman Alan Greenberg, Lance Henriksen as the leader of the bloodthirsty Caudla and the music of the German electronics engineers Tangerine Dream: they were regularly involved in work on atmospheric horror films. A small bonus – James Cameron, then Bigelow’s husband, enters the frame for a few seconds. A year earlier, he filmed Aliens, from where Bill Paxton and Janette Goldstein also migrated with Henriksen to the set of Nearly Darkness.
13.The Lost Boys
1987, directed by Joel Schumacher
Another version of a vampire movie about troubled youth, filmed in the same year as Bigelow. Two teenagers (Jason Patrick and Corey Hame) move from Arizona to California, where they confront a local youth gang, whose members turn out to be vampires (in the role of leader – Kiefer Sutherland). Joel Schumacher’s version is comic: information about vampires here is taken from comics, and the attack of bloodsucking is repelled by putting garlic, stakes and loading water pistols and guns with holy water, and they fill a bath with it, in which one of the attackers is drowned.
14. Cronos
1993, directed by Guillermo del Toro
One of the most beautiful films about the use of blood for the sake of eternal life. In Guillermo del Toro’s debut film, immortality grants the invention of an alchemist who lived happily for four hundred years until he died under the rubble of a house during the Spanish Civil War. Nowadays, the device created by the alchemist, for which the dying businessman is hunting, ends up in the hands of an old antiquarian.The unexpected return of youth to the old man has to pay with a lust for blood, and the fantastic thriller turns out to be a film about saving self-sacrifice, giving up life at any cost and accepting death.
15. Nadja
1994, directed by Michael Almereida
Could have made a classic New York movie about a family of emigrants, and they turned out to be vampires. Having betrayed the body of his late father to cremation, Nadia (Elina Lowenson) goes to Brooklyn to her brother Edgar (Jared Harris) with the hope of a new life, but it is not so easy to start it if the father’s name was Count Voivode Arminius Ceausescu Dracula.Van Helsing (Peter Fonda) and his nephew (Martin Donovan) are hunted for the missing body of the count, Nadia enters into an affair with the wife (Galaxy Craze) of the latter, and the niece (Suzy Amis) of the legendary vampire hunter is in love with Edgar. As a result, everyone hunts everyone, trying to save everyone from everyone. Add to that the dude black and white picture, David Lynch as the producer and Portishead with My Bloody Valentine on the soundtrack – the perfect 1990s for vampires.
16. The Addiction
1995, directed by Abel Ferrara
Fantasy about the socio-cultural foundations of vampirism.Philosophy student Caitlin Conklin (Lily Taylor) is bitten by a woman named Casanova (Annabella Sciorra). The consequences are typical for philosophizing youth: torment, reflections, cynical acceptance. The vampires in this film constantly justify their inability to fight addiction by blaming the victims, they say, they are not strong enough to resist. “Order me to leave,” Casanova says before being bitten by a terrified Caitlin. She freezes in fear. Digging into themselves and those around them, the characters recklessly quote Nietzsche, Feuerbach, Baudelaire and Dante.To whom this is not enough, Christopher Walken, who advises the heroine to read Naked Lunch by William Burroughs, embodies the close-to-success struggle against addiction in Abel Ferrara’s magnetic black-and-white film.
17. Habit
1995, director Larry Fessenden
The painting about the similarity of vampirism and alcoholism is a remake of Larry Fessenden’s own film, shot ten years earlier. In 1985, a little-known New York director and actor had only a video camera at his disposal, in 1995, a still little-known author managed an impressive-looking and very lively movie about drunkenness, sadness and what excites blood.The protagonist Sam (this role was played by Fessenden himself), longing for his father (died) and his girlfriend (abandoned) who left him, drinks without drying up until he meets the mysterious Anna (Meredith Sneijder) at a party. The romance with Anna turns out to be sexually intense, but exhausting and more and more strange: the new girlfriend, under various pretexts, refuses to eat, appears in Sam’s life only at night, and in a fit of passion she can bite. Since the hero continues to drink alcohol, it is difficult to understand whether he really got confused with a blood-drinking succubus or just drank himself to delirium tremens.Friends tend to the second option, the director – to the first.
18. Trouble Every Day
2001, directed by Claire Denis
A film about the desire to bite into another as an extreme form of desire for intimacy. Newlyweds Shane (Vincent Gallo) and June (Tricia Vessey) spend their honeymoon in Paris, where Shane, obsessed with a painful condition, searches the laboratory for answers to questions about himself, and discovers that the wife (Beatrice Dahl) of a doctor (Alex Deka) suffers from the same ailment …The heroes Gallo and Dahl are not able to stop having sex until they are crushed into the flesh of their partner and washed off with his blood. Claire Denis, a student of the researcher of human corporeality and all kinds of boundaries, the philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy, made a film not even about vampirism, but about an irresistible urge to merge with another. Denis shows the borderline manifestations of this craving with such unbearable power that the audience was carried away from the shows. After all, even in sex, it is impossible to become one with another person – all that remains is to devour him.
19.Let me in (Låt den rätte komma in)
2008, directed by Thomas Alfredson
Swedish film about a vampire as an eternal child and love as exploitation. In the early 1980s, the quiet Swedish boy Oskar (Kara Hedebrant), offended at school, befriends a girl named Eli (Lina Leandersson) who lives next door. Then it turns out that the girl needs human blood and can rip off the heads of offenders, not only her own. Then – that she is not quite a girl. In the hands and eyes of director Thomas Alfredson (later he will shoot “Spy, Get Out”), a tender Scandinavian film about feelings on the thin border between childhood and adolescence turns into a story about love as a relationship fundamentally unequal, impossible, but still desirable and beautiful.The American remake with Chloe Grace Moretz is not bad, but completely optional.
20. Bakjwi
2009, directed by Park Chang Wook
Korean fantasy on Theresa Raken by Emil Zola. A Catholic priest (Song Kang Ho) returns from Africa, where he contracted a deadly virus, but somehow did not die. It turns out that the vampirism that suddenly developed in the pastor helps to contain the disease. In addition to the ailments and false enthusiasm of the flock, the hero falls in love with a friend’s wife, which leads to the development of events described by Zola, but with a different emphasis.The same corpse, but instead of self-interest – a desire to protect, and instead of corruption – a crisis of faith and despondency. The director of Oldboy, a very strange comedy about a cyborg girl and the thriller Stoker filmed after Thirst, has habitually created something that does not fit into any framework: formally, this is a melodrama, and you cannot imagine a funnier film about bloodsuckers; here the blood pours in an endless stream, only for every liter there is a moment of indescribable beauty; finally, it’s a vampire movie, but it’s as if there weren’t any other vampire movies.
90,000 “You’re a man”: how gender stereotypes deprive people of the right to help
- Ksenia Batanova
- BBC
Photo caption,
Because of gender stereotypes, men are less likely to apply for With the help of
Pandemic coronavirus has endangered not only the physical, but also the mental health of people. Ready to contact far from everyone – most men do not go to doctors, preferring to cope on their own and not always successfully.The BBC Russian service tried to understand how gender stereotypes affect the life expectancy of men, how it is related to football and what does Prince William have to do with it.
“He believes that he should not show feelings. Not just not crying – nothing at all. It’s good that alcohol, but football helps to relieve stress. But after the game he comes home without skin on his legs. He says that there is severe pain must be endured with a smile, otherwise it is unworthy of a man. ”
Marina (the heroine’s name was changed at her request) tells about her husband, a 42-year-old successful man who has children, work and friends.
When she asked her husband if he wanted to talk to a psychologist, he replied: “Why am I going to tell a stranger about my life? It’s impossible.” He does not know about our conversation.
“Men do not cry” and live less than
The average life expectancy for men in Russia is 67.75 years, for women – 77.82. The difference is 10 years. In Britain, it is significantly less – about four.
“Gender attitudes and social stereotypes prevent them from seeing a doctor on time, telling their loved ones about their problems, making them keep everything to themselves.The main slogan of feminists that patriarchy kills everyone is just about that, ”explains Irina Kosterina, coordinator of the gender program of the Heinrich Belle Foundation. – Power masculinity still exists today, and it is attractive because it brings many benefits to men. They can be aggressive and quickly get what they need. But patriarchy has serious costs. “
Kosterina reminds that the inability to fit the image of the” tough guy “led to a surge in mortality in the 90s.
“When the usual life collapsed, many men could not be the breadwinners of the family. Risky behavior, suicides, drunken fights are a direct manifestation of patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes,” the expert says.
In the era of a pandemic, men die from coronavirus on average twice as often as women. Scientists continue to investigate why male deaths from the virus are higher. But there is already research that suggests that behavioral habits may be one of the reasons.
Another study by scientists at Middlesex University suggests that men wear face masks less often than women, because this can be regarded by society as a sign of weakness.
“Men, in principle, do not care about their health, and I myself am a vivid confirmation of this. Since childhood, it does not fit in our head that taking care of yourself is something important and necessary. I needed to see a doctor, but that’s all. As a result, my wife signed me up to see an endocrinologist. But not everyone has a spouse who will take me to the doctor by the ear, and therefore we all need to retrain. It’s good if health care becomes a social norm, “says the author of the podcast and telegram channel “Man, where are you going?” Grigory Tumanov.
This channel is one of the few platforms existing in Russia where men and women openly discuss different aspects of their lives with men: career, sports, relationships with fathers and children, sex, loneliness and health.
Grigory Tumanov recalls how he went to a psychologist: “I had a rather depressive period, at some point I realized that it was not me, that I was a much more cheerful person. They told me: Grisha, you are a walking stuffy cloud.And that’s what pushed me to seek professional help. “
Fitness for the body, fitness for the soul
There are three times more male suicides than female suicides in the UK. The British Heads Up campaign aims to convince men that mental health is just as important as physical health, and that men can cry too, but not become less masculine.
“Everyone knows that regular exercise is good for your health.Mental fitness is also needed, “says the characters in the BBC documentary A Royal Team Talk: Tackling Mental Health.
In the film, famous footballers Thierry Henry, Peter Crouch, Gareth Southgate and others meet with fans and share their experiences: homesickness, embarrassing to admit, feeling like you’re a loser because of being fired, having complexes because of your unconventional appearance. William.
“There is really little talk about men’s health. In the public field, drugs to restore potency are most often mentioned, as if this is the only problem of men. Now, if we moved away from the male genitals somewhere in the direction of the stomach and head, it would be cool. Because that there is male fitness, there is proper nutrition for men, there is how to pump up the abs, but a lot of things are still happening to us. ” – continues Grigory Tumanov.
Photo caption,
Russia ranks first in the world in the number of male suicides
Male mental health: reverse sexism?
Should we single out male psychological problems in a separate category?
“This campaign is a great example of the difference in public attitudes towards gender issues.When women say that they have problems with violence and health – physical and mental – then society takes the position “again women are whining, feminists are bored.” And as the wave went to help men – so there immediately and the prince, and money, and world-wide channels in the wings “, – says the author of the telegram channel” Real Feminist “Alex Drusakov. In his opinion, the stereotype” you are a woman “stigmatizes and breaks women much more than “you’re a man.”
These stereotypes, he says, force women to “give in, bend over, be comfortable and carry everything on themselves,” and allow men to “shirk housework, childcare , from controlling your negative emotions. “However, he emphasizes that mental problems do not have gender: “But a rigid definition of one’s social role through gender is already a disorder.”
Other experts interviewed by the BBC believe that there is no sexism in addressing men specifically.
“It seems to me that both men and women need to unite as soon as possible. Speaking from the position that” women have been an oppressed minority for a long time, and now you men will take the rap for it “seems unproductive to me. think about psychological health “, – Grigory Tumanov is convinced.
“Prince William is an iconic figure and from his lips the legitimization of new behavior is very important. His words will have the same effect when many famous men spoke out for feminism and in support of women. It was an important step to show that the image is toxic the tough macho is already leaving, it ceases to be the mainstream, which it was 10 years ago, “adds Irina Kosterina.
Photo caption,
Psychological problems have no gender, but addressing men helps them fight patriarchal attitudes
Why are men silent
According to the portal “Profi.ru “, the number of requests for online psychotherapists in Russia increased from the end of March to mid-May by 69% compared to the same period in 2019. There are 21% of men among them.
Psychologists say that the opportunity to seek professional help is mostly denied men over 45. In the older generation, due to upbringing, gender stereotypes and ideas about how real men should behave are the strongest. about their problems.
“I had a long delay in contacting a psychologist. I was not afraid that they would find out and condemn me. Rather, at the subconscious level, I myself considered seeking help as a defeat, an admission of my weakness,” says Ruslan Polanin.
Then he worked as an engineer at a plant in Volgograd. Now, at 32, he lives in Moscow and is engaged in contemporary art. Ruslan “had big ups and downs in mood” and a feeling of dissatisfaction. “It turned out that I have recurrent depression,” he says.
“In the end, I think I acted like an adult. In the art environment, going to a psychologist is like going to a dentist,” adds Ruslan. When he worked at the factory, he could not tell his colleagues about therapy: “Such things are simply not present in their lives.”
In the BBC film Football, Prince William and our Mental Health, the Duke of Cambridge speaks to the players of small amateur football teams – for them it’s not just a team, but rather a men’s club, a fraternity.
“I was in a situation where after the words“ I have depression ”they looked at me as if I had two heads,” says one of the heroes of the film, who is diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
How to speak without a dictionary
Another problem that psychologists and gender specialists talk about is that men who are imposed by patriarchy into a model of behavior in which they cannot complain often do not have the skill to describe their problems.
Irina Chey, head of the “Colon” center for victims of male violence in St. Petersburg, says that when the center had just opened, they offered help by e-mail.
It turned out that men not only find it difficult to find the words to tell about what happened to them, even after writing, they are ashamed to send such a letter to a stranger afterwards. “Girls are always told that it is okay to express their emotions, boys are not,” adds Irina.
But Ivan shares his experience by mail. He survived sexual abuse as a child and, years later, still sought help. He is 24 years old and works as a construction technician.
“Memories are like a dream, you don’t quite believe in the reality of what happened. memories made themselves felt again. I decided to write, come what may, anonymously. I was able to write the letter the third time. The process itself caused very mixed and unpleasant feelings. As if betraying someone, [there is] a feeling of shame that you will laugh, “- says Ivan.
But now, he says, life has become easier.
Photo caption,
Attitudes like “don’t noah, you’re a boy” deprive many of the skill to speak out loud about their problems
Who should talk to men
“Russia is still Putin with a naked torso on a horse, and family is a union of two people of different sexes. But I see that the situation is changing, and this is the merit of the women’s agenda and the actions of radical feminists, no matter how anyone turns up their nose at them, “says Grigory Tumanov.
He adds that women in Russia have extensive experience of horizontal self-organization (“March of Mothers” in support of the defendants in the “New Greatness” case, protection of women from domestic violence).
“But we do not see such male campaigns. If one of the women said: guys, this is how you can do it, we can teach you this, it would be cool,” he believes.
“Women should talk about men? In feminist publics we were accused of not having to deal with men when the statistics of violence against women are horrific.But here it is important to understand that the problem of violence is a common one, it is not a problem of men or women, “says Irina Chey.
New psychological normality
Neuropsychotherapist Katya Dosho at the very beginning of the quarantine asked her friends to spread her proposal on social networks about free psychological help for all who need it
People from different countries began to sign up for the session in Zoom, but there were no men among them.
“Quarantine has undermined the central pillar of our being – the ability to control. And this is especially difficult for men, whose gender role implies more control and problem solving. People no longer spin like squirrels in a wheel, they have slowed down, and many have time to sit down and watch and what is happening inside them. These experiences are an opportunity for changes in society, “says Katya Dosho.
The last part of the BBC film on male psychological health was filmed during the quarantine.The heroes of the film and Prince William on Zoom discuss how they are going through this time. Prince William’s advice ahead of the closing credits: “The best time to start talking about mental health is now.”
*** Illustrations by Denis Korolev
2/5 Brotherhood of the reckless | Ridley
Besides, Theo is in the same class with her again and again pesters like a bath leaf. Alice, of course, loves her brother, but he is so indecisive, so timid, so soft that it annoys her terribly.In addition, she will have to protect him from the rest all the time – with this she has already earned herself a bad reputation among adults. Alice crossed her fingers, hoping that the teachers at the new school didn’t know anything about this yet.
As soon as she took up the book in the hope of distraction, Theo entered the room. She and her brother always lived in the same room, which was divided in two by a thin chalk line. To the left was Theo’s territory – order and cleanliness reigned there; and on the right, half of the sister, everything was swallowed up by chaos. The boy began to sort things out when a voice came from below:
– Quentin! Twins! Come here!
Going down to the living room, the children saw their father filling their glasses with champagne.
– What are we celebrating? Theo asked.
– I’ll be glad, you’ll see! – Hector handed the children glasses of fruit juice. – Not every day you find out such news … So, everyone has drinks? Anna, will you tell?
The mother’s face was beaming with joy.
– We managed to find a sponsor to renovate the old wing of the museum!
– What looks like abandoned?
– Exactly! Once the renovation is complete, we can expand the museum!
– The victory would be simply brilliant if we could place Emange’s treasure in this wing …
– Oh, my dear! Let’s not talk about it.Today is our holiday! Anna shook her head, raising her glass.
“Ever since we started trying…” Hector said happily to the sound of glass.
– We only lack the signature of the Mayor on the permit, and we can start working!
The joy of Anna and Hector was so contagious! Alice relaxed a little. She almost forgot that tomorrow was her first real school day.
Chapter 2
It was drizzling outside, blurring the silhouettes of buildings.The car stopped in front of the school. The children jumped out. With a wave of his hand at his father, Quentin joined the group of friends while the twins went to their lockers.
“I hope you’re not going to act like last year,” Alice muttered through clenched teeth.
– What? How to behave? – the brother was surprised.
– Follow me everywhere like a dog.
Offended Theo lowered his head and did not say another word. They walked to the locker room along the corridor, where other schoolchildren were noisy and scurrying about.Alice was glad that her locker was exactly her height. She opened it, put away the books, took out the lock and proudly locked the door: now she is a real high school student, and this is all for real! Leaning against the wall, the girl looked around and charged herself with the atmosphere. She began to dream. Anything is possible this year. This year, her parents and Quentin will finally start taking her seriously. This year …
A quiet voice pulled the girl out of her dreams:
– Alice …
– What is it? Have you forgotten your pencil case at home?
Without a word, the brother took her hand and led her to his locker.“Loser,” the girl said to herself. Brother’s locker was at the very bottom and was covered in graffiti.
– Alice … look …
– Look at what?
– It’s empty! – shouted Theo, opening the door. – They stole everything from me!
– Are you sure this is your locker?
Alice was at a loss: she knew that her brother was rarely wrong.
– Yes, I’m sure it’s mine. Look, here’s the lock that I hung with my initials on it … Someone broke it! And the worst thing …
With a shaking hand, Theo handed his sister a piece of paper folded in half.Alarmed, Alice unfolded the sheet and read aloud the illegible handwriting:
Do you want your things back? Everything is very simple. Complete one secret mission for me, and I will return them to you. But if you don’t, or if you tell someone else, I’ll burn all your textbooks, and the school will decide that it’s your fault. I will contact you soon. Reckless.
She raised her head, her gaze became prickly.
– Alice, – whispered Theo, already ready to burst into tears, – what can I do without textbooks? But we’re not going to take on his assignment, are we?
– Theo, these are your problems.And your locker. There are no us …
She won’t get caught up in the story again because of Theo. A new school is a chance to start from scratch. Alice has grown up, Theo too …
– Alice … please …
Alice’s heart sank with pity for her brother.
She sighed:
– Okay, okay … I’ll help you.
– Thank you, Al, thank you.
In response, the girl only sighed heavily.
Theo straightened with relief.
– And what are we going to do? I don’t want to break school rules … Maybe you should show someone this note?
– We can’t! If this Reckless One finds out, he will burn your books, and they will blame you for it.
While they talked, the corridor gradually emptied, the students went to their classrooms. Suddenly, among them, Alice noticed the caretaker whom they had introduced to them the day before. Yielding to a sudden impulse, the girl called out to him.
– Hey!
The man stopped and looked at her in surprise.
– It’s impolite to call out to people like that …
– Sorry, I didn’t remember your name, I’m new and …
– Interrupting is also impolite.
Not a good start to a conversation.
– What is your name? He asked calmly.
– My name is Alice, and this is Theo, my brother. Fonstran. We are at 5 “G”.
“Very good, Alice,” the man replied coldly. – My name is Damien Müller, I am your caretaker. From now on, treat me with respect. Good?
Theo swallowed hard.
– Yes, monsieur.
– Excellent. What you need?
– My brother lost his textbooks.
– Already?
– Um, yes. He’s very distracted. Can he get new ones? Please, ”Alice hastily added.
The caretaker shrugged his shoulders and smiled derisively.
– I do not believe a single word of yours.
The girl blushed with anger and was about to say something harsh in response, but the caretaker continued:
– I know everything about you, Alice Fonstrand, I know that you are a little insolent liar. Your glory runs ahead of you.
Enraged, Alice glared at the caretaker. Theo cringed in fear. How could this person know about Alice? Looking for help, Theo was looking around and suddenly noticed Laura watching them from behind the lockers.
– I think it was actually you who lost the textbooks. Shifting the blame on others is a despicable act. In any case, the school is not obliged to pay for someone else’s stupidity. You have to ask your deskmate to share the textbook with you. The bell is about to ring. Go to class.
Alice threw her backpack over her shoulder and left without a word. Theo muttered, “Goodbye, monsieur,” under his breath, and hurried after his sister. The caretaker looked pleased. Passing the last row of lockers, Theo saw that Laura had already left.
The twins barely managed to slip into the classroom when the bell rang. Alice immediately headed deeper into the classroom, leaving her brother to figure it out on his own. He had already caused her enough trouble. So Theo sat down in the first available seat. The lesson began, and the teacher, of course, asked the children to get their textbooks.
Confused Theo turned to his neighbor – a girl with bright eyes and a friendly face – and timidly asked: “Can you share the textbook?” The girl looked at him cheerfully and put the textbook between them.In the corner of her notebook she scrawled, “Have you managed to forget yours?” Noticing how upset Theo was, the girl added, “My name is Charlie, and yours?” Theo relaxed a little and wrote her answer in his notebook. The guys liked texting so much that by the end of the lesson they were already chatting with might and main:
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